Pages

March 2, 2012

Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude: Pizza Night

Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly(ish) feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I am not an expert, but I do enjoy talking about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food.

Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.
***********Brain Bytes: Today's linkage is an interesting, slightly amusing article mostly composed of ads from over the years that demonstrate the sexualizing and gendering of various food products. (Obviously, there is much in this article leaning heavily on the meat products. Ahem.)

I am going to begin to include interesting food links in these posts. Often, a link speaks on its own and does not necessitate my own pithy commentary, right? This new little feature is inspired by Daniel Koontz's Casual Kitchen, who not only provided our Inaugural Brain Byte, but also happens to be one of my very favorite food blogs.
**********Note: Gentle Reader, this post was NOT sponsored by Papa Murphy's and instead, was sponsored by my deep, abiding affection for YOU..... you little rascal you.

Like many folks, I love me some pizza. Like many folks, I have very specific needs when it comes to pizza.

It needs to be a thin crust with a bit of sauce, handfuls of cheese, some pepperoni. Maybe some mushrooms. If I am feeling wild n' crazy.

And that is it.

Oh sure, I'll eat FancyPants Pizza with frilly, chichi toppings. And.....okay, okay... if I am in Chicago I certainly would not turn down a stop at Giordano's. Still.... overall, I don't enjoy a thick, doughy, greasy slice of pizza. I hate to mention names, but there are certain chains from which I will only eat under duress (coughPizza Hutcough)

There you have it -- when I am craving pizza, all I really need is a slice of thin pizza with pepperoni.... if you will, a little triangle-shaped magic carpet ride. Frankly, one of the very best parts of my trip to Italy in 2003 was the fact that I did not have to special order my pizza, it already came exactly the way I love. And this is where I learned about the D.O.C (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) - a regulated designation for pizza that deems it worth enough to be officially called "Neopolitan". (And a special shout-out to Amalah who introduced me to the wonders of Two Amys's DOC pizza in Tenleytown where we met for lunch a few times. Oh, how I still remember the Neopolitan magic that Two Amys was able to conjure- still one of my favorite Stateside Pizza Experiences. Ever. )

Currently, Manoj and I are on a huge Papa Murphy's kick. While Daddio Murph will probably never achieve a DOC designation, their ingredients are actually fresh. Additionally, I really appreciate the TakeN'Bake bit -- no waiting for it be delivered or schlepping it home while it cools down in its box. When your husband has a tendency to never, ever (EVER) come home when he says he will come home, I like that I am able to just pop it in the oven when I actually see the whites of his eyes pulling into our driveway. Oddly enough, one of the disadvantages of pizza made from scratch with fresh ingredients is that it does not sit well for very long.

Yes, I did look into making pizza from scratch, but honestly? I could not justify it since there was virtually no cost savings involved (when I priced it out, I could not see where I would make a pizza for under the $9 I pay at Papa Murphy's). However, a part of me felt guilty that my kids were not getting to partake in that fun tradition of Making Pizza. After all, I still have fond memories of making Chef Boyardee pizzas with my mom and sister and here I am trying to create the Perfect Childhood for my own precious progeny, right?

Well..... Papa Murphy kicked it up a notch and introduced a mini-pizza kit called the Mini Murph. The Conundrum for Creating the Perfect Childhood? SOLVED. At $3 a pop, it was an easy decision and Team Chaos LOVES getting to choose their very own pizza (no splitting a pizza with a sibling. Because OH MY GAWD, the Sheer Horror that is Sharing With One's Sibling.GAWD. )

Besides, making a pizza from scratch would defeat one of the very best parts of Pizza Night: Taking a break from cooking.

I think the smile says it all.

What is your all-time favorite pizza? Are you a die-hard when it comes to making your own?

7 comments:

I don't like a lot of sauce either, but I do often like a thick crust. My fave place for delivery is Hungry Howie's. They have flavored crusts that are the bomb.

Surprisingly, the generic W@lmart frozen pizza is pretty good. Similar to a Digiorno, but under $5.

I never make crust from scratch, but I do have a wicked recipe for cajun blackened chicken pizza from Rachel Ray. Blackened chicken breasts with fresh tomato, onions, jalepenos and pepper jack cheese. Yum.

I love papa murphy's and papa john's thin crust.... I cannot eat pepperoni anymore *sob* because of reflux, but my favorite pizzas are typically pretty veggie laden, and if I wouldn't have to actually share, I would probably go strictly veggie.... my kids are on a pretty serious cheese only kick....my hubby would like nothing better than to skip the veggies all together and just load on the meats, but he would be the only one who is gonna eat that lol!

I make mine from scratch but mostly because that's the only way I would ever get any. No one delivers this far out and we aren't in town around supper time. I use a bread machine for the crust (it is thick) and thick sauce, pepperoni, and cheese. Then I add fresh basil to mine just before eating. I have been known to add onions, peppers, bacon, hamburger, mushrooms and black olives but mostly just the basics. When I do have a chance to eat pizza out somewhere I like thin crust.

I have been known to use the night off from cooking excuse but really what I make is so easy it hardly counts as cooking.

I can't say I'm a die hard from scratch pizza person, as I really like Domino's pizza, but I do like to make my own! I make the crust thin and I like to saute my mushrooms and onions first to keep the pizza dry and I really like using fresh mozzarella sliced, instead of shredded from a block or bag.

I've been wanting to try those mini-pizza kits. Fantastic idea but we aren't close to a Papa Murphys — will have to make an extra effort as our boys would love them. We hit D' Bronx or Papa Keno's in OP pretty often as everybody can order their own slice with toppings of choice. Trader Joes has good pizza dough in their refrigerated section that has allowed some fun make-your-own nights.

About Me

A recovering workaholic, currently in the 12 Step program to Getting a Life. I worked my ass off to get a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree, a CPA license but then threw it all away in one fell swoop after giving birth to the results of my 2005 DNA Project. Arun arrived already needing a HAIRCUT on the delivery table. My God, the HAIR. I joined the Exclusive 2 Under 2 Club when we had our daughter Anjali in July 2007 and again, can you do the baby sign for HAIR? My very most favorite guy in the whole wide world happens to be my husband, Manoj, who puts up with not only my filthy mouth and obsessive nature, but also my honest temper, aggressive driving habits and crappy taste in television. Manoj is Indian - as in INDIA, the Land of Curry and the Infamous Asian Head Bob. He's really awesome, but actually doesn't do the head bob. Much to my disappointment.
This blog is forever sarcastic and irreverent, but rest assured that 5 days out of 7, I stop to think how utterly fortunate I am to have this crazy life of mine.